Shikin Gomez, Monika Sta. Maria and Minh Tu Nguyen appear as model mentors throughout the season on Asia's Next Top Model (season 6) - (ASNTM Screen Shot)

Video Beat - IS ASIA'S NEXT TOP MODEL LOSING THE PLOT?

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

As opposed to other Top Model franchises where the contestants come from the same country the fact that these models represent various nations is the shows strength. Seeing how the contestants get along and how they blend together to become somewhat of a family while putting aside national barriers and prejudices is fascinating

Sunday, September 30, 2018

SOMETHING NEW… ALUMNI MENTORS

Now in its sixth season/cycle Asia's Next Top Model it is going the way of its franchise owner Tyra Banks... IT IS LOSING THE PLOT. For Banks the America's Next Top Model show became mostly about her and models talking tough ghetto speak. For the Asian edition the downside is losing the plot of NOT being about ethnic Asian models but about Eurasians and the contestants looking white that, by their behavior, were raised abroad or live elsewhere.

This season features 14 contestants: three from Thailand, two from the Philippines and Indonesia, and one each from Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam. China, India, Mongolia, Nepal, and South Korea were unrepresented. Japan marked its comeback after its absences from the previous two seasons, while both Hong Kong and Myanmar returned after their absences from the previous season.

As opposed to other Top Model franchises where the contestants come from the same country the fact that these models represent various nations is the shows strength. Seeing how the contestants get along and how they blend together to become somewhat of a family while putting aside national barriers and prejudices is fascinating.

One of the most interesting aspects of the Asian version is in the first three series was that some contestants had difficulty speaking the English language. That gave the series a charming innocence. That charm is being replaced by contestants that speak English well or fairly well therefore resulting in the Eurasian invasion.

To be fair the upside is the spoken words are clearer but there are subtitles that clarify what the models are saying.

This season the show has incorporated three former contestants as mentors Monika Sta. Maria from season 3, Shikin Gomez and Minh Tu Nguyen from season 5. This twist ads an interesting dynamic to this series.

Tu represented Vietnam. She had the most interesting language challenge but constantly fought through it. As a mentor she continues to struggle with it but her effort adds to her amusing persona

. It is that characteristic that makes her mentor input so attractive given that she is also overcoming a challenge while trying to guide her four modeling students to fight and overcome theirs.

Last season Tú demonstrated her thoughtfulness for others that brought out her teaching skills when she helped a fellow contestant to fight to win and mentally overcome her fears by not giving up. Although Tú didn't win she demonstrated caring for others was just as important as her own efforts to win. She has consideration for others.

Last season the series hit its high water mark when it had a blend of extremely good looking models with the majority having adequate English language speaking and comprehension skills. The blemish was it was last season that the foul language use was becoming apparent.

In the past there has been an overload of models representing Thailand and the Philippines. That trend continues. This season the show is based in Bangkok, Thailand where Eurasian host and former model Cindy Bishop resides. This is not a big thing but it plays into their being favoritism towards Thailand.

Some contestants who are Eurasian live or were raised in a foreign country such as England. This situation does not truly represent Asia since they have a mentality of the country that they reside. This perspective questions the integrity of the show selling itself as being Asia's.

An annoying element to the show is modeling Coach Yu Tsai. This flamboyant occasionally rude individual comes off trying to make a name for himself and gain attention as opposed to functioning as a judge/instructor. Yu Tsai was a photo shoot creative consultant on cycle 21 and cycle 22 of America's Next Top Model.

Demonstrating that opinion of his self importance since he got involved in ASNTM in season 4, during the call out scenes when the judging and elimination portion of the show, at the end he greets the girls by saying models, models, models. The models the models apparently are coached to reply Yu Tsai, Yu Tsai, Yu Tsai. This dialog is so manufactured it is annoying and NOT good television.

This season the show has shifted to another channel Fox Life. Fortunately the show came be seen on You Tube.

Overall the show remains interesting but our opinion of it becoming TOO SLICK is subjective. The bottom line is it remains a WORTH WATCH but it's up to you to take a look and form you own opinion.

NOTES:

Filipino contestant Adela-Mae Marshall (20) competed on the second season of Philippines' Next Top Model, where she was the runner-up.

Taiwan's Mia Sabathy (24) competed on the seventh season of Austria's Next Top Model, where she placed third.

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